Professional Services Sector

Hyongsoon Kim: The Koreatown Advocate

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2013 issue. Check out our entire People 2013 issue here.On the 24th floor of Century Plaza Towers, in his office at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, attorney Hyongsoon Kim enjoys expansive views of West L.A. and the Pacific Ocean b ... More >>

Raves Dead At Some L.A. Venues, But San Bernardino County Says Yes To EDM

While raves have essentially been shut out of two public venues in Exposition Park, including the Coliseum and Sports Arena, San Bernardino County officials are welcoming electronic dance music events to Glen Helen Regional Park. The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors yesterday voted 3-2 to ... More >>

Katt Williams Tour Canceled Amid Bizarre Behavior, Arrests

After some of the most bizarre behavior to befall a comedian, the 100-city Katt Williams tour has been canceled, LA Weekly has learned. The L.A.-based comedian had about 90 more stops left but the concert promoter Live Nation pulled the plug this weekend, we were told: It was possible, however, tha ... More >>

Guardian Angels? Egret's Wings? Reviewing the Best Designs for Downtown's Sixth Street Bridge

See also: *5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week *Fugly Buildings: Our Series on the Most Hideous Buildings in L.A. Finalists for the re-design of the Sixth Street Viaduct, a bridge spanning downtown and Boyle Heights, revealed their plans to the public recently. Depending on the mood at the Burea ... More >>

USC Football Billboard in UCLA Territory Torn Down by Regency Outdoor Advertising

Looks like Regency Outdoor Advertising, one of the biggest billboard companies in this land of 10,000 billboards, is choosing sides in the epic beef between USC and UCLA. At first, it appeared that Regency (which is reportedly co-owned by Brian Kennedy, a prominent USC donor) had sided with the Tro ... More >>

USC Grad Student Sues Over a Deep L.A. Secret: Who Got Rich Off Illegal Billboards?

Mayita Dinos: Much Ado About Water

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2012 issue. Check out our entire People 2012 issue here. Mayita Dinos' soft hands belie the fact that she's dug through acres of stubborn subsoil on a one-woman crusade to mulch, harrow and hoe as much of Los Angeles as possible. She ... More >>

Koreatown to File Redistricting Lawsuit Against L.A. City Council; 2 Pro-Bono Firms on Board

They threatened, and they meant it: Koreatown is taking the L.A. City Council to court over the gerrymandered land grab that was redistricting 2011-12. City Hall politicians get loads of legal threats thrown their way, on the daily. But Koreatown activists' growing rage was given a lot more weight ... More >>

Report: Los Angeles Now Has More Bed Bugs Than New York

Looks like we might have to stop making fun of New York Shitty for its bed-bug problem. According to a new report from giant pest-control company Orkin -- based on the number of treatments it conducted in each major U.S. city last year -- L.A. experienced somewhat of an embarrassing bed-bug renaiss ... More >>

Stephen Yagman VS. Chemerinsky

A disbarred cop-brutality lawyer blames his friend, a top California legal eagle

Wilshire Grand Hotel: Los Angeles Digital Skyscraper Goes to a City Council that Has Little Idea What It's Approving

By Tibby Rothman and Jill Stewart Wilshire Grand Hotel rendering done at such an extreme angle it's nearly impossible to see light effects.​Update: The City Council has approved the top-to-bottom lighted Wilshire Grand Hotel project.  The vote will read as "unanimous" officially, yet one co ... More >>

Digitally Ad-Wrapped Skyscrapers Coming to L.A.?

Jan Perry opens a new front in the Los Angeles billboard wars

$9 Billion California High Speed Rail Route: The Planning is So Inept That it's Souring Residents from North to South

California bullet train: little rooting for the route​Investigative reporter Tracy Wood writes today about the inept, cloaked, and somewhat creepy PR strategy followed by the California High Speed Rail engineers and Parsons Brinckerhoff, who have not followed basic transparency and outreach ru ... More >>

My Mondo Valentine

Justin Bieber and Ozzy Osbourne in Matching TRON Outfits (WTF Pic of the Week)

​There used to be a big football game called the Super Bowl. Then that got overshadowed by the TV ads played during the Superbowl. Then that got overshadowed by trailers and ad campaigns for the TV ads that played during the Super Bowl. Now apparently all of that is being overshadowed by "Maki ... More >>

Compton 'Parent Trigger' Pushers Refuse to Verify Signatures in Person; Superintendent Calls Truce to Sparse Crowd

PHOTO BY TED SOQUIOver 60 percent of McKinley Elementary parents signed a petition in December to convert their children's school to a charter​Compton Unified School District's acting superintendent, Karen Frison, changed her game at last night's district board meeting. She released a "media ... More >>

Parent Trigger Showdown in Compton Gets Increasingly Heavy; Jerry Brown, Kamala Harris, and Barack Obama M.I.A.?

Governor Jerry Brown​Update: Former state Sen. Gloria Romero accuses Compton Unified of strong-arming parents to stop charter school. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and another huge law firm join Parent Trigger effort pro bono. Things get increasingly heavy in Compton today when the McKinley Parent ... More >>

L.A. Advertisers And Anti-Billboard Activists Pissed Over City Council's Bright Idea To Slap Billboards With A 12 Percent Tax

PHOTO BY TED SOQUI​The Weekly has long had an eye on sketchy billboard deals throughout Los Angeles. In 2008, we reported that 4,000 of the city's 11,000 billboards were illegal, built without permits or earthquake regulations. Then came the Westside "Mad Men," fat-cat entrepreneurs who were ... More >>

Grinding Justice

Operation Streamline Costs Millions, Tramples the Constitution, Treats Migrants Like Cattle, and Doesn't Work

Porn's Talent Agencies Targeted In Drive To Require Condoms In Adult Film Industry

​In its drive to get the government to mandate condom use in the adult film industry, the Aids Healthcare Foundation states that it will file state complaints Thursday against nine porn talent agencies for encouraging what it argues is dangerous, unsafe sex. "These talent agencies are a pipel ... More >>

The Mad Men of Los Angeles

Living the good life, thanks to the big profits from illegal outdoor advertising

City Attorney Moves Against 'Supergraphic' Signs

​The City Attorney's office on Tuesday announced it filed civil injunctions against 27 sign companies, sign installers and property owners for illegally putting up super-sized advertisements known as "supergraphic" signs in Los Angeles. It declared that the displays are public nuisances and se ... More >>

TV Writers Get $70 Million In Age Discrimination Settlement

​One-hundred-sixty-five television writers jointly received a $70 million settlement Friday in their age-discrimination claim against some of Hollywood's biggest players, including ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and more. " ... With years of disruptive litigation remaining, and all networks and major tel ... More >>

L.A.'s Newest McSupergraphic?

Anti-clutter activists are irked again by the billboard industry's latest affront to good taste. Over the weekend, an office building on Overland Avenue in West Los Angeles put up a five-story supergraphic of a giant frosty coffee beverage as part of McDonald's advertising campaign to break into th ... More >>

Where Are All the Lawyers Going?

If the recession's exploded one myth it's that lawyers will always be employed, boom or bust. Today's L.A. Business Journal reports that Gibson Dunn & Crutcher has sacked 36 "support staff workers" in its nine offices due to the downturn -- seems individuals and businesses are shying away from l ... More >>

Surprise! Billboard Industry Poll Reports that Angelenos Dig Digital Billboards

A newly released survey conducted in Los Angeles County found that  just 22 percent of residents polled were familiar with the politics and legal mess surrounding digital billboards. Of that fraction, just six percent reported that the issue was important to them. Those are only a few of the su ... More >>

Is Mayoral Candidate Walter Moore a Billboard Enabler? Or Just In Love With Neon?

As the March primary election nears, L.A. mayoral candidate Walter Moore is taking some heat from bloggers who are questioning his day job. Moore, who is running for the big spot for the second time, is an attorney with Richard Hamlin Attorneys. The problem? The Los Angeles-based law firm, which spe ... More >>

Digital Billboards Become a Bohemian Blasphemy

Silver Lake, Hollywood, the Valley and Westside take on City Hall's anti-green transformation of LA

LA Business Journal Reports on Billboard Blight

The Los Angeles Business Journal published an article yesterday about the city’s billboard ban, which exempts itself and a few large billboard companies. The article focuses on two lawsuits filed by two smaller billboard companies that are suing the city of Los Angeles for – among other things ... More >>

San Francisco Outdoor Advertising Company Lawsuit Mirrors Billboard Attacks Against Los Angeles

Two Los Angeles court rulings in favor of outdoor advertising companies are playing strong roles in a recent court filing in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Metro Fuel, which is owned by New York based Fuel Outdoor Holdings, which specializes in mini billb ... More >>

Outdoor Advertising Company Attacks San Francisco’s Billboard Ban

Last Friday, Metro Fuel filed a motion in United States District Court for the Northern District of California to prevent the city of San Francisco from enforcing its laws against illegal billboards. The outdoor advertising company, which is owned by New York based Fuel Outdoor Holdings, which sp ... More >>

Billboard Banter Gone Wild

Los Angeles’ illegal billboard issue is clearly heating up in the press and cyberspace -- again. The Daily News recently published an editorial about the city’s botched 2002 billboard ban and the need for a list of billboard locations and owners. Today, Los Angeles Times reporter Veronique de ... More >>

The Farewell Performances

Sex, Drugs and Minivans

Evan's in Need of a Miracle

Is the big-budget sequel going to hell?

Film Reviews

Including this week's pick, Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny

Kiss Their Grits

Square One and the most important meal of the day

Diebold's Revenge

Steve Cooley goes after a whistleblower

The Rocky Files

Who hired ex-CIA agents to snoop around the city attorney?

All in the Family

George can count on Harriet to overturn Roe v. Wade

JC Superstar

The Ghosts of Dan Carvin

Paying the price for mishandling fat legal bills

Goldberg Flies Air America

Music-biz biggie pilots a new radio hit

Ad Libs

The virulent strain of commercials infecting the Web

How the Democrats Blew It

The blame starts with Daschle and Gephardt

Lose Those Accountants!

Harold Meyerson has a plan to save the Oscars from its disgraced vote tabulators

Patently Mine

Microsoft and Amazon test new open-door policy at U.S. Patent Office

Money, Money, Money